Lindyss lay on a bed of grass, splaying her limbs out in the sun. She yawned and adjusted the sunglasses on her face that had slid down. A smile appeared on her lips as her shoulders relaxed, sinking down. A low rumble sent tremors down her back, but she ignored it. A few seconds later, the rumbling grew louder, and the ground shook as if Lindyss was lying on a massage chair. “That feels great,” she said without opening her eyes. “Whatever you’re doing, keep it up.”

The trembling stopped. A shadow fell over Lindyss, causing her to sigh and open her eyes. A massive black dragon’s head towered over her. “Can you not?” she asked. “You’re blocking the sun.”

A low rumble escaped out of Grimmy’s throat as he chuckled, causing the ground to tremble. He grinned at the cursed elf. “Don’t you want to see?”

“No,” Lindyss said. “I got a good look at it from the sky. I’m not interested in spiders.”

“What’s wrong with spiders?” Erin asked, her head poking out from underneath Lindyss’ hair. “Fairies love spiders. They eat all the pesky bugs.”

“They seem to have missed the fairies,” Lindyss said, pushing Erin’s head down with her finger.

“One day, you’re going to tell me why you hate fairies so much,” Erin said with a muffled voice. “And then I’ll fix your trauma!”

“You want to know?” Grimmy asked, raising his brow as he used one claw to lift Lindyss’ hair, revealing the trembling fairy queen. “I know why she hates fairies.”

Lindyss glared at Grimmy. “Don’t you dare tell her.”

“Well,” Grimmy said, showing his teeth as he smiled, “how much are you willing to pay me to keep my mouth shut?” He exhaled through his nose, puffing a blast of air that knocked Erin away from Lindyss. “And how much are you willing to pay to find out?”

“I can give you a staff of polymorph,” Erin said, her face pale. She seemed to shrink under Grimmy’s gaze, her feet disappearing into the dirt beneath her. There was an audible gulp as she swallowed. “I, I mean, t-two staves of polymorph.”

“Stop bullying the fairy,” Lindyss said, snatching Erin and shoving the fairy into her robes out of Grimmy’s sight. Before Erin could say anything, Lindyss glared at her. “No, I wouldn’t care if he bullied you under normal circumstances, but this involves me.” She stood up and placed her hands on her hips, meeting Grimmy’s twinkling eyes. “Alright, you win. What did you want me to see?”

“Look,” Grimmy said as he took out a translucent jar. Within, a curled up demon was sobbing into its hands. “It’s a being from another dimension.”

“Yes, yes,” Lindyss said, rolling her eyes. “I’ve seen it.”

“That’s not the reaction you should be having,” Grimmy said and tutted. “You should be wondering whether or not it has a soul. Aren’t you curious?”

Lindyss’ face paled. “If you stick that thing’s soul inside of me, I swear I’ll stop being your friend for real,” she said. “It’s only been a few years since I’ve been able to enjoy the sun since who knows when. I’m not going to give that up again.” She took a step back as Grimmy’s grin widened. “I’ll seriously fight you.”

Grimmy sighed before shaking his head. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Even though I want to, it’s not possible. Devils don’t have souls.”

“Darn,” a small voice said from within Lindyss’ robes.

Lindyss ignored it and crossed her arms over her chest. “Then what’s so special about it?”

“It can move and talk and think as if it had a soul,” Grimmy said, gesturing towards the jar. “Isn’t that amazing? Usually, a living being without a soul is just a vegetable, but this devil isn’t. Think of the implications.”

Lindyss furrowed her brow as she tilted her head. “It’d be ethical to kill it?”

“Why is that the first implication you thought of!?” Erin shouted as her head appeared from Lindyss’ shirt’s collar. “It’s never okay to kill anything!”

Lindyss shrugged. “It was just a joke,” she said. “Calm down.” She nodded at Grimmy. “In other words, this devil is simply a golem with an extremely high level of intelligence. It sounds like it can be disobedient though; what’s the point? Golems are already effective.”

“Maybe you’ll understand after I do this,” Grimmy said as he lifted the jar above his head. The devil trembled upon seeing Grimmy’s gaping maw underneath it. Black flames flew through the air, scorching the bottom of the container. The devil hopped up and down in silence, but its mouth was opened as if it were screaming. Grimmy stopped blowing flames and lowered the jar. “Do you understand now?”

Erin’s face paled as she sank back inside of Lindyss’ shirt, determined to never appear in front of Grimmy again. Lindyss shook her head. “I don’t get it. Are they tastier since their flesh isn’t tainted by impure souls?”

Grimmy heaved a sigh as he moved the jar to the side and collapsed onto his belly, resting his chin on his front paws. “And you call yourself a necromancer.” He gestured at the jar by lifting one claw. “This soulless body can feel things. What’s the greatest issue with the undead?”

“A warm body,” Lindyss said, her eyes lighting up as she stared at the crying devil. “Can it reproduce too?”

“Now you’re getting it,” Grimmy said, a smile breaking across his face.

“Instead of maintaining a dead body with mana, we can put a soul inside of a devil instead,” Lindyss said. Her brow furrowed before she narrowed her eyes at Grimmy. “I thought you didn’t like devils and wanted to stop whoever was summoning them.”

“Did I say that?” Grimmy asked. “You must’ve misheard. Besides, I already know who’s behind this.”

***

Mary sat atop a hill, overlooking a town. A frown was etched in her face, her eyes narrowed at the citizens walking to-and-fro through the streets. Her nostrils flared as she inhaled deeply, her chest expanding from the excessive air. She exhaled through her mouth and relaxed her face before staring up at the sky. With a clank, she leaned back, letting her armor hit the ground. She held her sword up in front of her face and sighed. “Why does everyone smell like a dragon…?”

“Your sense of smell is too weak,” her sword said in response, its edge flashing with a blue light. “You have to devote more time to developing your nose. Instead of becoming one with a carrot, become one with a wolf. Train harder!”

Mary pursed her lips as she sat up. She crossed her legs and placed her hands against her greaves. “Woof.”

“…That was terrible. Train harder!”

“Woof!”